Tuesday, July 3

C:L M13 Updates

A few changes are in order for M13. I’ve also made some more updates to the Ability Sheet since my last post.

   Cloudchaser Kestrel > Attended Knight

Cloudchaser Kestrel has been a pretty big disappointment in the cube mostly due to white’s monopoly on enchantments and Kestrel's ability not being a "may" effect. Attended Knight is a reasonable replacement and gives white one of it's only "value" creatures... Yes, I know how bad that sounds.

   Sigiled Paladin > Knight of Glory

Sigiled Paladin was fine at its job but Knight of Glory does a lot of the same without costing CC. That type of costing has become a small issue in the cube so I’m trying to eliminate a few of those cards. This works out nicely because MBC has also become a very powerful archetype and needs some balance.

   Tower Geist > Arctic Aven

Another small issue in the cube is the large amount of value creatures and card draw. The card draw is worth a lot less when there are so many value creatures, so you end up seeing most of those cards going around the table. To remedy this I’m cutting down on some of the superfluous value cards and also some of the card draw. Tower Geist is first to go and is replaced my one of my favorite new cards, Baneslayer Aven.

   Courier’s Capsule > Faerie Invaders

Second to go is Courier’s Capsule. It was a holdover from when Sanctum Gargoyle and Razor Hippogriff were part of the cube anyways.

   Jace's Ingenuity > Talrand's Invocation

And the other card draw spell to go is Jace’s Ingenuity (which recently replaced Tidings in the cube). Talrand’s Invocation should prove to be a pretty sweet card in its place.

   Pestilence > Veilborn Ghoul

Pestilence started its life in the cube as an uncommon because of its power level despite once being printed as a common. But I decided that its not actually too good to be a common after all. Veilborn Ghoul is a card I am a little doubtful of. While black would love a win condition that is hard to deal with, it is also in no short supply of creatures that can’t block.

   Blind Zealot > Pestilence

Blind Zealot never performed as expected. It was neither good removal nor a good creature. There is also a flood in the black three-drop creatures and this seemed like the worst of the bunch.

   Viscera Dragger > Bloodhunter Bat

Viscera Dragger has been a very lackluster card throughout the cube’s lifespan. I don’t know why I didn’t cut it sooner. Bloodhunter Bat is much like Blind Hunter, which I cut when doing some gold card trimming. It's much more reasonable as just a black card.

   Falkenrath Noble > Knight of Infamy

There are usually not enough creatures around (or not enough time) to make Falkenrath Noble good. I was testing him out and he didn’t prove worthwhile. Knight of Infamy fills a hole in black’s two-drop slot and is a fine aggressive creature or control win condition.

   Blind Creeper > Liliana's Shade

You can’t really expect much from vanilla creatures like Blind Creeper. His stay didn’t last long. Liliana’s Shade gives another win condition and value creature to MBC. Certainly a quality card, but I might still be overflowing some of MBC’s tools.

   Executioner's Capsule > Murder

Like the other Capsule, this was a holdover from when Trinket Mage and friends were in the cube. Murder isn’t exactly exciting, but makes a reasonable replacement.

   Squealing Devil > Crimson Muckwader

I like Squealing Devil (and other similarly designed cards) a lot, but as a RB Aggro card, it doesn’t actually make a lot of sense. Crimson Muckwader is a pretty strong replacement.

   Skirk Marauder > Mogg Flunkies

Skirk Marauder wasn’t really a two-drop, but it also wasn’t a good three-drop. It just wasn’t a very good card. I think I have been leaving it in so that there is at least some confusion on what someones morph could be. Mogg Flunkies is a very well designed red card and I think is a card I simply forgot about. It fits red so well.

   Zektar Shrine Expedition > Reckless Brute

There was a reason Zektar Shrine Expedition was in the cube, but it wasn’t really a good one. Reckless Brute has a much simpler reason.

   Jade Mage > Flinthoof Boar

There are already two cards that fill a similar role to Jade Mage (Sprout Swarm and Selesnya Guildmage). I don't mind having three cards that do the same thing, but I had to cut something to make room for Flinthoof Boar. It's possible Jade Mage will find her way back into the cube.

   Pathbreaker Wurm > Sentinel Spider

Pathbreaker Wurm was the obligatory common green fatty that I wanted to have at least one of. It wasn’t very good. Sentinel Spider is only a small improvement, but I think green has enough other fatties anyways.

    Path to Exile > Swords to Plowshares

An obvious switch, Path is nowhere near as good as Swords (especially in this cube).

   Wrecking Ball > Cut

   Mistmeadow Witch > Cut

I’ve been cutting down on gold cards not just because Ravnica is around the corner. The mediocre gold cards are the ones that table and end up last picks the most often so I am only leaving in the best ones.

Wrecking Ball was in originally because of the small LD theme in the cube but I prefer for that theme to be even smaller. Mistmeadow Witch was an all-star in the early days of the cube but as it improved the card got worse and worse.


Since my last post, Mulldrifter (undying, unearth) and Dauthi Marauder (shroud, lifelink) have been reset. I’ve come to realize that I might have undervalued the persist and undying mechanics. They are the cause of most of the problem cards that have been created. Thus, persist has moved to the next tier and undying will do the same when it returns to the list.

My original reason for including a few abilities that can be bought for 1 point was to give new players something to do with their minuscule number of points after a match or two. I’ve since decided to cut them from the sheet but think that they are something you should have for a Cube:Legacy it its infancy.

Despite having enough points, still no one has bought Cascade or Flashback. It’s possible that they might have had I not implemented a new 50-point rule. I was given the idea by a jokester and of course I didn’t expect anybody to attempt it (because who is that stupid). Lo and behold someone is over halfway there. The rule is that you may spend 50 points to change the name of the cube to resemble yourself. For example, if Shahar “The Rat” Shenhar does reach his 50 point goal and renames the cube, the correct way to reference the cube will be as such: “Hey, do you guys want to go down to the sewer? I bet there’s some good scraps tonight.”


For the achievements, I think that I've made them too easy but I haven't yet had time to revamp them. It seems as though whenever I renew them three are achieve during the first cube. I'll have to work on that for next time.

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